The battle with his next door neighbor, Matt Prucka, began in 2007, when Prucka decided to sell his home in the tony Shadyside community near Rice University.

When Petrello heard about Prucka’s plans, he offered to buy the house for $6.5 million, according to court records. Prucka refused, and later received an offer for $8.3 million from Rahul and Usha Nath. After learning of the pending sale, Petrello raised his offer to $8.2 million, although he never put the offer in writing. The Naths, meanwhile, plunked down $75,000 in earnest money.

Undeterred, Petrello asked the Naths to step aside, saying he wanted to the buy the house for his severely disabled teen-aged daughter to live in when she became an adult.

The Naths refused, and Petrello sued, claiming Prucka had promised him a “last look” option to buy the house. He accused Prucka and the Naths of conspiracy and discriminating against the handicapped. The case wound up in federal court, went before a hung jury and three separate judges before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled last year that it had no merit.

Hoyt ruled that Petrello didn’t have an enforceable contract to buy the house and therefore had no basis to make a discrimination claim because he wasn’t a qualified buyer.

I’m not sure why it took so long for a judge to come to what should have been an obvious conclusion, but the federal appeals court in New Orleans wasted little time in affirming Hoyt’s ruling. They also upheld Hoyt’s order that Petrello pay the legal fees for Prucka and the Naths, which total almost $1 million.

Petrello is one of the highest-paid executives in Houston, earning $16 million even though he only took over as Nabors’ CEO in October.

The next time you hear an oil executive — or any executive for that matter — complaining about frivolous lawsuits, this is one to remember.